Legacy physical media

What Does an Electronic Records Archivist Do
By Lynda Schmitz Fuhrig, Electronic Records Archivist

http://blog.photography.si.edu/2010/08/10/electronic-records-archivist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+si%2FvrZU+(The+Bigger+Picture)

Great post here referenced in the JISCmail list

Who knows what gems may live on such media, even if they were belong either a personal or corporate collection it would be really interesting to unwrap each items content.

I would be looking to migrate the content onto modern platforms. You can purchase USB 3.5" floppy disk drives these days, that would be a good first port of call for those items.

5.25" may be more tricky, but getting hold of some legacy kit and interface cards you should be able to put something together.

I think sometimes the hardest part beyond the physical recovery, is the actual interpretation of the data. Clearly many files may have been created in now-defunct applications. However with Virtual machines and emulation, the possibility exists to recreate the configurations of operating systems and applications that will allow a good chance of accessing content. However getting hold of the applications and operating systems to create an emulation platform may be difficult.

Sharepoint - an exciting opportunity for organisations?

I have been taking a good look at Sharepoint recently, many organisations are expressing a great interest in this platform (particularly SP2010) either as a complement to existing arrangements or an outright replacement.

I am currently investigating its suitability but can already see some potential given Office 2010 and Office Communicator integration and how you can virtually instantly make contact with document authors from the properties screen. So I can imagine how much better document sharing and collaboration might be with SharePoint given a little bit of insight from Office 2010 alone.

The general consensus seems to be that thankfully many core functions of document and records management are now within SP 2010 where they were lacking in 2007. The UI is improved, metadata better supported, retention policy is better implemented.

I already have a SP 2007 VHD setup at home and can see the document management side coming through it, but it is somewhat more restricted than other platforms I have used. I look forward to continuing my investigative work on this and hopefully getting my hands on with a SP 2010 platform soon either at work or at home.

Retention of telephone conversations and their file format

This is an interesting issue that I am looking to address. How long should telephone conversations be kept?

A data protection principle is that information should be kept for no longer than necessary.

RM principles suggest you maintain records dependent upon their content/function for as long as is required. These principles are format independent so you do not look to apply the same one size fits all rule to a "format". For instance we do not keep all emails for x period of time, if the email is a contractual arrangement - it is kept as a contract record. An email about arranging a lunch is not kept beyond the event, it can be deleted straight away.

The same should be applied to phone recordings but if it is not possible to do classify calls, what should be done? It looks like a one-size fits all approach will have to be taken - 1 year, 6 months, 30 days - what fits best?

File format is interesting as well, in this instance .WAV files are generated - wouldn't an MP3 be more open and accessible, particularly for those who do not operate Windows systems?

Standards for comment - Records Management are ISO/DIS 30300 (Fundamentals and vocabulary) and ISO/DIS 30301 (Requirements)

Two documents are available for review and comment by the RM community, well worth a look http://drafts.bsigroup.com/

They are 'Fundamentals and Vocabulary' and Requirements for "Management System for Records".